andrew



(No Model.)

V H. H. ANDREW. METHOD OF REHEATING AND REDUGI-NG RODS 0P METAL.

PatentedMay 1,1883.

N. Firms Plmlo-Lrthegmpher, Wazhingtam n. 1".

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY H. ANDREW, OF SHEFFIELD, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

METHOD OF REHEATING AND REDUCING RODS OF METAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,743, dated May 1,1883,

Application filed September 19, 1882. (No model.) 4

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HERBERT AN- DREW, asubject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Sheffield, in England, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Reheating and Reducing Rods and Strips of Metal; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to a sheet of drawings which accompanies this specification as part thereof, and on which- Figure l is an elevation of apparatus by which I propose to carry my said invention into efl'ect, and Figs. 2 and 3 are plan views of the same and of its driving shaft and gearing, hereinafter more particularly described.

My invention consists in a novel method of reducing rods and strips ot'metal by hot-rollingbin contradistinction to cold-rolling, which latter is a more costly and a slower process, but has heretofore been employed for said purpose, chiefly on account of the difficulty of reheating long lengths of thin metal. An advantage of hot-rolling is that itdispenses with theannealing and pickling which are necessary between each pass of the metal through the rolls in the process of cold-rolling, said pickling and annealing being detrimental to the quality of certain metals, and more especially to that of steel. And by my improved method rods and strips of metal may be reduced to much smaller sizes than has heretofore been possible by hot'rolling.

In carrying out my invention I construct a series or continuous train of rolls of suitable size and material, fitted in housings and driven by any convenient arrangement of drivinggear. I place between each pair or set of rolls, or between such as may be found requisite, a bath of heated lead, through which, by means of suitable guides, the metal is passed, and becomes during its passage sufficiently heated to be operated upon by the next pair of rolls. I prefer to use baths of heated lead to other methods of reheating the metal, (such as open furnaces,) there being less liability of oxidation or scaling of the metal. I either slightly oil the metal after leaving the rolls and before it enters the lead bath, so as to prevent adhesion of lead, or I use a flame of gas, through which I cause the met-alto pass as it emerges from the lead bath, for the purpose of burning off any slight film of lead that may possibly adhere to the metal during its passage through I the bath.

In the accompanying sheet ofdrawings, A A are the rolls, fitted in their housings and driven by the gearing B from the main shaft 0. D D are the lead baths,-heated from the under side. the metal through .the bath. F shows the position of the gas for burning off any adhering lead.

I do not claim or include in my invention any particular method of driving the rolls, as there are various ways of carrying this into effect. Neither do I claim, broadly,hot-rolling rods and strips of metal, as I am aware that this has been practiced in shaping such rods and strips for particular uses or in working the same up into other products. Nor do I claim as new the employment ofbaths of heated lead for heating rods and strips of metal, as I am aware that their use in machines for working up and. tempering thin rods or strips of 75 metal has before been proposed; but

What I do claim as my invention is The method hereinbefore specified of reducing rods and strips of metal by continuous hot-rolling-that is to say, passing the hot metal through reducing-rolls and therefrom E E are guides to direct the course of through a reheating-bath to succeeding reducing-rolls, and so on continuously through reducing-rolls and reheatingbaths in alternate succession until the required reduction is accomplished, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have affixed hereto my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY HERBERT ANDREW. 

